Winnington Scores 3:43 400 Free Lifetime Best At 2020 QLD C'ships (original) (raw)

2020 QUEENSLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

In addition to the swims you’ve read about in separate posts, such as Flynn Southam‘s 100m free age record or Emma McKeon‘s impressive 100m fly/100m free double, a handful of performances stood out from day 2 of these 2020 Queensland Championships.

Here are separate posts stemming from today’s action in Brisbane:

For instance, in the men’s 100m fly, 21-year-old Nunawading ace Matt Temple got it done for gold in a time of 51.64, the only sub-52 second outing of the field. Spitting 23.99/27.65, Temple clocked the 3rd fastest time of his career.

Owning a PB of 51.47 from last year’s World Championships Trials, Temple nearly replicated the feat, hitting a time of 51.51 to render himself the 6th place finisher in Gwangju.

HIs 51.64 from this evening now ranks as the 4th fastest swimmer in the world this season.

Behind Temple tonight was Mitch Larkin, the man who crushed a winning 100m back result of 52.75 last night. Here, Larkin posted a time of 52.78 to snag 100m fly silver, establishing a new PB in the process. The only result for Larkin in Swimming Australia’s database is represented by the 54.97 100m fly time he logged just last month.

The women’s 400m free saw 18-year-old Lani Pallister score a near-lifetime best for gold, stopping the clock in a time of 4:06.19. Pallister’s PB rests at the 4:05.42 she nailed for gold at the 2019 World Junior Championships.

She was able to comfortably hold off TSS Aquatic swimmer Kiah Melverton and Noosa’s Kareena Lee, who fought hard for silver in respective final results of 4:07.45 and 4:07.47. Although the former has been as fast as 4:05.30 in her career, Lee’s effort here obliterates her former PB of 4:09.56 from this same meet in 2019.

As a side note, we reported how Pallister and her mom coach Janelle have both moved to Griffith University as their new training base. You can read more about that changeup here.

St. Peters Western standout Elijah Winnington did his thing tonight in the men’s 400m free, powering his way to the wall in a mighty 3:43.90. Winnington had never before been under 3:44 in this event, owning a previous career-quickest time of 3:44.68 from last year.

Winnington gave us a good glimpse into where his form is at with a dirty 1:45.79 200m free from last night. His 4free effort here now bumps him up to become Australia’s 6th fastest performer all-time.

All-Time Aussie Men’s 400m Free Performers

  1. Ian Thorpe – 3:40.08, 2002
  2. Mack Horton – 3:41.55, 2016
  3. Grant Hackett – 3:42.51, 2001
  4. David McKeon – 3:43.71, 2013
  5. Kieren Perkins – 3:43.80, 1994
  6. Elijah Winnington – 3:43.90

Winnington’s time tonight easily takes over as the top performance in the world so far this season and would have placed 5th at last year’s FINA World Championships.

Winnington had given us a glimpse as to where his training was at when he became his nation’s 3rd fastest SCM performer ever in this event. This past October, Winnington crushed a time of 3:37.45 to get under 3:38 for the first time.

Additional Winners:

In This Story

Kaylee McKeown
Kiah Melverton
Kyle Chalmers
Lani Pallister
Mitch Larkin
Zac Stubblety-Cook

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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